Bombshell
A: Biography
Director: Jay Roach
Cast: Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie
Rating:

As one of the three protagonists of Bombshell is caught in traffic on a rather rainy day in New York, the camera zooms to a flash sign that reads: "Stay in lane". It's among the most poignant scenes of Jay Roach's biographical drama — based on the sexual harassment scandals that led to the ouster of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes in 2016 — a warning of sorts for the women who contemplate whether they must take on one of the most powerful media persons of the time.

Of course, we know what happens when you don't 'stay in lane'. You miss out on a promotion; worse still, get fired; or are forced to put up a debilitating fight that, in the end, results in very little. Contemporary cinema has given us a glimpse of precisely what 'victory' in a sexual harassment scandal may seem like: Netflix's 13 Reasons Why invited the wrath of viewers who criticised the pithy three-month probation given to a 'rich' rapist as punishment, after 26 gut-wrenching episodes depicting his misdoings. The makers of the show welcomed people's reaction, suggesting that viewers 'should be angry', because that's all that happens to the rich in real life. We don't even need cinema to tell us how bleak the situation is when the cases of harassment around us constantly talk about the little that women have achieved, despite exposing an assaulter.